Insistence
by AsterAdvocate
Summary: Sora and Riku have finally returned home after defeating Ansem. Riku's finally happy, but Sora seems to be expecting something and has resorted to stalking of a sort. Warning: So fluffy it's suffocating.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix, Disney, and Nomura the God.**

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_What is he doing?_ Riku sighed as he caught sight of the unmistakable brown spiky hair peaking out behind a palm tree. Why in the world was Sora stalking him? Surely he didn't believe Riku was going to disappear again? Being in the darkness with DiZ, Namine, and a comatose Sora and friends as his only company was at most bearable, and he had no intention of going back to that kind of living anytime soon. Riku had missed the salty ocean smell. The unchanging island. His home. His friends. The light. And Sora. Sora had grown to become so strong, so bright, and so full of hope. In ways he hadn't changed, yet Riku and Sora both knew how much their journeys through different worlds have exposed them to things that made it impossible for other people to be able to relate to them.

_Well, we may be able to relate to each other quite well, but that doesn't mean I have any idea what he's doing right now. _Riku slowly turned himself around, pretending not to notice Sora's presence, and walked to the cliff that peered over the ocean waves. It was where a convenient crooked palm tree grew that made for a nice makeshift seat for as long as Riku, Sora, and Kairi lived on the island. Riku hopped over the bent tree with practiced ease and rested his back against the trunk. He only had to hear the scrambling of feet against the smooth palm tree's trunk to know that Sora had joined him.

"Hey, Riku," Riku looked up to meet Sora's trademark grin and bright blue eyes. Riku chuckled softly, knowing that the brunette couldn't resist sitting with him at their treasured spot and looked back out into the ocean. This certainly wasn't the first case of Sora stalking him. After defeating Xemnas, the two arrived back at Destiny Islands, ecstatic to finally be home and to celebrate with their friends. Well, Sora had been estatic enough for the both of them, and Riku had felt a wave of bone-crushing relief and happiness. The return home turned the day into a hug-free-for-all, and Riku found himself being embraced by Mickey and his two aides, Goofy and Donald. Kairi had given him quite a lengthy hug, which she said made up for her pathetic hug in the World that Never Was because it was frankly extremely weird hugging Ansem. Word had quickly gone around that Sora and him were back because soon Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka arrived and embraced them all, demanding to know what had happened. Laughter and stories were shared and quite a few in our gathering of people had tears in their eyes, a notable mention being Sora himself, however he'd rather slay another thousand heartless than admit doing so.

Of course, after this huge, sickly sweet event that made Riku want to brush his teeth just thinking about it was when the stalking began. Sora seemed to be everywhere Riku was. Riku was walking back to his house with Sora and noticed Sora's eyes often looking at him, like he was expecting something. The next day, Sora had arrived bright and early at Riku's home. And he seriously meant "bright and early." It was six in the morning. The crazy brunette had the nerve to climb through Riku's window and pounce on his stomach, jolting Riku out of what he believed to be well-earned rest. Roused from his precious sleep, Riku's blurred vision met Sora's expectant gaze. _What in the world was he? Crazy sadistic bastard. _Riku's lack of sleep combined with his not-a-morning-person-so-please-go-away personality had him roughly throwing Sora onto the floor and tickling him until he insistently cried "Uncle!" Even with his terrible morning mood, Riku really couldn't get angry with Sora. Of course, before Sora could exact his revenge, which Riku later clarified to be unfair because of how damn early he was woken up, Riku locked himself in the bathroom. Riku 1 - Sora 0. The day went on with them both hanging out together and later meeting up with Kairi, who wanted to show them the vast set of seashells she had collected while waiting for their return. She had even found a small shell that matched the color of Sora's blue eyes, which Selphie found amusing when she had joined the trio. Riku had greatly enjoyed himself that day, but seriously wanted to catch up on sleep. Sora had tagged along with him on his trip home, which made RIku realize that he truly had missed Sora's bright character. Riku had invited Sora over for dinner, which led to a sleepover. And another. Until Sora had practically lived at Riku's house for the past week. Riku asked about whether Sora's mother knew about his extreme excursion, but Sora had said he had left a note. _But when, exactly? He's practically been glued to my side ever since we got back to Destiny Islands_. Unless he had left the note detailing his motives on the first night back home. Cheeky sod.

Riku broke out of his reverie when he felt Sora kick him lightly on the side, most likely to nudge his head out of the clouds. How hypocritical. Riku guessed that Sora wasn't really stalking him as he was spending every waking moment with Riku. The silverette looked back up at the spiky brown-haired teen and saw, once again, Sora's hopeful eyes. _What was it that he wanted? _"Well, I'm hungry. Are you coming back with me?" To his surprise, Riku saw Sora shake his head no. "Naw, I promised Mum that I would finally have dinner with her. She was mad that I only shared one meal with her ever since I got back."

Riku broke out in laughter. "Well, yeah, considering that you've been gone without a trace for over a year. How much do you think your mum's been worrying, huh? What a terrible son you are," Sora pouted and said, "I'm a bad son? Then what about you, huh? You've been gone for a year too! Not to mention you haven't been asleep through most of it!" The comebacks were shot back and forth between the two of them, ending in giggles. It was like they were children again.

"Well, Sora, you may be the worst son in all the worlds, but you are the greatest friend I've ever had," Spouting that cheesy line was well worth watching Sora's cheeks burn red in embarrassment.

"You too, Riku."

"Huh?"

"King Mickey told me about what you did for me. He heard it from DiZ, I mean, Ansem the Wise."

"Oh, that," Riku sighed and looked down at the sand being shifted by his feet. "That was nothing, Sora. I don't even deserve to be here, not after all I've do-" A hand clamped over Riku's mouth, forcing Riku to face a frowning Sora.

"Don't start on some dreary tirade about the darkness and how you messed up, Riku. You've redeemed yourself. Everyone that matters thinks so. Anyone else who doesn't can suck on my keyblade," The last comment had Riku chuckling against Sora's hand. Was Sora's immaturity finally getting to him? He knew it was contagious. "By the way, Mum invited you for dinner. Somehow she knew you've been indulging me and wants to make sure that both of us are eating something healthy." Sora pulled his hand away when he felt Riku's smile against his fingers. He always seemed to know how to cheer Riku up, intentionally or not.

Dinner was delicious to say in the least; Riku had no idea why Sora skimped out on his mother's meals in order to eat his cooking, which wasn't even close to par with the smoked fish they just devoured. Sora ate with the same relish he ate Riku's food, which was extremely endearing but something Riku would never admit to call endearing. Sora insisted on Riku spending the night, so Riku shrugged and agreed without much struggle. His only argument was that all of Sora's clothes were too small for him to use as pajamas. Riku ended up with the biggest t-shirt and shorts Sora owned, which were most likely still a size too small for him, and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

_Hm, so the guy does own conditioner. Why is his hair so crazy though? Maybe its crap conditioner._ Riku scrubbed his hair with shampoo as he considered the look he once again saw on Sora's face. _Seriously, that insistent look on his face. What is it that he wants?_ Riku was getting ready to rinse out the shampoo when he heard the bathroom door slide open. _Oh, God, that better not be Sora's mum._ Riku either had to spend precious seconds rinsing out his hair or open his eyes and risk burning them with shampoo, so Riku went with the former. The shower curtain was yanked open, removing what little concealment he had left separating his naked wet self from his perpetrator. All the shampoo was gone from his hair and he quickly swiveled his head to find a perturbed Sora staring right at him.

"Sora?! What are you doing?" Said teen huffed indignantly and had the nerve of stepping into Riku's shower, fully dressed, while _Riku was still in said shower_.

"I was waiting for you to get it, but you never did. Gosh Riku, I thought you were suppose to be smart. Or at least smarter than me," Sora uttered like he had every right to step into the shower while his naked best friend was using it.

"Get what, Sora? What's so important that you have to come in here while I'm taking a shower? Can't it wait? And I'm pretty sure I locked the door,"

"You don't even know! Riku! I hate you!" Sora snapped angrily, confusing Riku even further. He sounded jealous about something, but what?

"Alright, Sora, I concede defeat. What terrible thing have I done this time?" Riku was quite proud of his looks, but he also appreciated privacy and rather wanted to face Sora with clothing, not in a running shower, naked. Although Sora looked quite nice, _wet_. Gah, what was he thinking?

"It's what you haven't done," Sora pouted, clearly depressed that Riku didn't even know why Sora was so upset.

"Hmph, that's new. Tell me, does it have to do with the looks you've been giving me the past week?"

"Yes! Finally, you're getting it," Sora's visage brightened, which made Riku feel sorry that he had to admit that he was still just as lost as he was before.

"Sorry, I still have no idea what's going on."

"Oh, come on, Riku! I gave you so many opportunities too! You owe me!" All Sora did was pull blank stares from Riku.

"... Look Sora, I have no idea what you're talking about. Either tell me or I'm just going to continue my shower like you're not here," Sora actually blushed, but for what reason, Riku had no idea. Then the brunette muttered something that was lost to the water running from the showerhead. "What?" Riku tried to catch Sora's gaze, while Sora looked at the shower wall like it was the most interesting thing he'd seen since the gummi ship. "You're going to have to speak up, Sora. Apparently my hearing is just as bad as my intelligence."

"A HUG!" Sora exclaimed as he turned back around to face Riku's surprised countenance. Riku felt the swells of laughter in his throat but held it back as he saw that Sora was serious.

"A hug? Really? You couldn't have just asked for one?" That was probably the wrong thing to say. Sora's face turned redder, most likely from anger this time.

"You gave everyone except me a hug! King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, and even Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka! All before me! I thought you were just teasing me or something and were going to give me one later but it seems like you just forgot! Argh, I take back what I said before. You're the worst friend ever! Who was the one searching for you this entire past year, worried to death that you were gone forever, huh?" Silence encroached the shower as Sora regained his breath in loud angry huffs. Riku was quite stunned. Then he smiled and tousled Sora's wet hair with his hand. _Hmph, is it possible for Sora to get any more childish? Well, it is Sora._

"Wow, you're right. What kind of terrible person am I, forgetting to give his best friend something as important as a hug? I'll make It up to you right now," With that, Riku proceeded to pull Sora under the full force of the shower's spray and embraced him full-on, thoroughly drenching him and his clothes.

"Ahh, Riku!" Sora screamed and tried to wrench himself out of Riku's grip. Heh, too bad for him. Riku's arms held down Sora's own and his chin locked over Sora's shoulder, giving Sora no leverage to pull himself away. "I'm soaked!"

"What did you expect when you climbed into a running shower, _fully clothed_?"

"Let go?"

"Hah? Weren't you the one who made a big deal about me forgetting to hug you?" Riku nuzzled his face into Sora's neck. Their current situation was on the borderline of platonic best friend love but he really couldn't bring himself to care. _I can't believe I actually forgot to give Sora, of all people, a hug. Of course the guy's going to make a big deal about it._

"Riku, I'm taking off my clothes!" _Wait, what?_

"Sora, what are you-"

"You've got me soaked so I might as well take a shower now."

"Then at least wait for me to finish-"

"You'll take too long. I'll freeze if I step out."

"It's the middle of summer you idiot."

"Just let me take a shower!" Sora was so strange. Riku decided to stop thinking about his best friend's antics and snarled. He tugged Sora's soaked shirt over his head and proceeded to squirt a copious amount of shampoo in his hands to rub into Sora's unmanageable spiky hair. "Wait, hey, what are you doing?" Soap suds from the shampoo ran down his forehead which forced Sora to close his eyes to keep his eyes from burning.

"Washing you. I have to repay you somehow for not giving you a hug first thing we came back, right?" Riku smirked as Sora moaned and leaned against the hands massaging his scalp.

"Don't treat me like a child."

"Oh, when have I ever implied you were?" An annoyed grunt from the smaller teen had Riku chuckling again. Riku finally finished rinsing out suds from Sora's hair and grabbed the conditioner bottle. From what he could tell, Sora's hair was quite tangle-free and smooth; it just happened to stick out in unintelligible ways from his head.

"Hey, Riku, can I open my eyes?"

"No, I'm not done yet," Riku replied as he rubbed the lemon-scented conditioner through Sora's brown locks. "Why is your hair so spiky?"

"Hm, I guess it just is," Sora said with his eyes still closed. The guy's too trusting. Hopefully he's only this naive when with his best friend, although this is still something quite weird to be doing with a best friend. Riku then rinsed out the conditioner from Sora's hair.

"My turn now," Riku said as soon as Sora opened his eyes. The look on Sora's face was priceless.

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So, Let's see how this story goes.


End file.
